Culture & Society

Poems From Goa: Songs Of Nature, Forgotten

These poems by Priyal 'Woodpecker', one of the new age hippies of Goa, look at the loss of Goa's natural spaces and the impact of human invasions on what was once a pristine land for solitude, bereavement, and freedom.

Priyal 'Woodpecker' at her home in Goa.
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Encroachment

Encroachment of the feminine.

Encroachment on mother earth.

The home buried under the chores.

All wounds buried under our wombs.

(I)

Impotent masculinity

Has allegedly trespassed바카라 웹사이트

Every gate of fertility.

He has trespassed

On her every age,바카라 웹사이트

Every bone,바카라 웹사이트

Every sense.

HE has trespassed

Humanity.

H E R S P A C E바카라 웹사이트

Caged in his toxic brokenness.

Eventually, she too

Has been converted바카라 웹사이트

Into a guardian바카라 웹사이트

Of patriarchy;바카라 웹사이트

A gatekeeper of her own바카라 웹사이트

Death chamber.

(II)

Ye woman! Rejoice바카라 웹사이트

For, the encroachment on the wild바카라 웹사이트

Is only ephemeral.바카라 웹사이트

Our eternal바카라 웹사이트

Is beyond their paws.바카라 웹사이트

Our ruins, harder than their바카라 웹사이트

Collective erections.

(III)

(Resurrection)

We can build back

On our own ruined land.

We can live back

On our own bloody breath.

We can chew - all the demons up,

And sew cosmic love바카라 웹사이트

In the laps of

All creation.

Together, we can temple.

(without any goddamn god)

(IV)

Oh patriarch flesh,바카라 웹사이트

It's time you rejoice, too!

For, thanks to you –

The secret of human extinction

Will be eternally buried바카라 웹사이트

Under the debris of바카라 웹사이트

Female claustrophobia바카라 웹사이트바카라 웹사이트

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Priyal “Woodpecker” came to Goa a few years ago when she was looking for a place to grieve. The riverside place is her refuge now. She did many things over the years. Like walking barefoot in order to learn and forgive | Credit: Chinki Sinha

Barefoot

Look closely, aren't my feet

Prettier than your shoe?

Aren't they more intricately designed,

Than any other goddamn brand?

(I)

Come, step in my shoes

And feel your earth bare.바카라 웹사이트

Feel her heart

Thumping with plastic바카라 웹사이트

Pain.

Feel your own feet

Crushing your hostile ego.

~

The face of your feet

Is your most vulnerable바카라 웹사이트

Face.

It is open to every callousness,바카라 웹사이트

Razors and tried nails.

It is weary to every broken바카라 웹사이트

Blood and bloodied spits.

(Aren't you curious about

How will you scar, later?)

(II)

First, man and earth -

We were both barefoot.

Then man started to wear shoes.

Then man forced the earth in바카라 웹사이트

Tar shoes.바카라 웹사이트

Clok clok clok

Now, both meet in shoe masks

Under which none is breathing.

Under which, the child poisoned his

Mother while still suckling on her.

(III)

Until there walks a single person바카라 웹사이트

With the shoe, the world refutes바카라 웹사이트

To be clean.

For, this last shiny shoe human

Still carries their ego,바카라 웹사이트

In their shoes.바카라 웹사이트

They feel protected enough;

To not give a fuck about바카라 웹사이트

What they throw,

What can hurt.바카라 웹사이트

Their capitalist shoes motivate them바카라 웹사이트

To coolly call바카라 웹사이트

Mud; dirt

And barefoot; poverty.

(IV)

“Come, smell my bare feet. See how

They stink of Earth's dead body;바카라 웹사이트

Mutilated ~

With fillets of human (s)crap,

Garbage and grief;

*Carelessly littering her skin in glee.

Like men, carefully raping in glee.*

(V)

(Kid you not)

With my bare feet,

I have seen eyes, who -

After looking at my naked feet,

Turn - half full with contempt,

Half empty with piety;

Wanting to stomp on my skin바카라 웹사이트

With their artificial one.

I have seen eyes ~

Fleeing from mine

In disgust;

Of their own vulnerability

That they aren't ready to feel.

I have seen eyes ~

Bombing my limbs

With quiet arsenals, hoping바카라 웹사이트

That they would rather바카라 웹사이트

See me as an amputee;

Than barefoot.바카라 웹사이트

(A poet and a filmmaker, Priyal “Woodpecker” is one of the new age hippies in Goa. She performs, designs, makes jewelry and promotes sustainable living and environmentalism through her art and lifestyle. Views expressed in this piece are personal)

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